The invention relates to a driver's seat in a vehicle.
A driver who drives a vehicle normally operates a steering wheel, an accelerator and/or brake pedal, a transmission and a number of switches in accordance with the traffic conditions, weather and road marks. It will be noted that the operating ends of these members or components are fixed in position while the physical features of the driver vary from driver to driver. Accordingly, a driver's seat is arranged to permit an adjustment of the forward or rearward movement, the elevation, the inclination and the cushioning to his preference. It will be understood that a single vehicle may be utilized by a plurality of drivers. Also, when a single driver is driving the vehicle, it may be desirable to adjust the attitude of the seat as he becomes tired or as the road condition varies such as a down or an up grade or a turning point. However, it is cumbersome to adjust the seat manually or each time a driver gets on the vehicle.
Recently, there has been a proposal to install a microcomputer on the vehicle for storing data indicative of the physical features so that a desirable seat attitude data can be derived by an arithmetic operation, allowing the driver to read the attitude data to operate a positioning apparatus. In an alternative arrangement, the positioning apparatus is associated with position sensors and a manual positioning apparatus so that when the manual apparatus is operated to adjust the attitude, data from the position sensors may be stored in a microcomputer in correspondence to an identification code. Later, the identification code may be inputted into the microcomputer, whereupon the attitude of the seat is established in accordance with the corresponding data stored.
In the former arrangement, the driver adjusts the attitude of the seat by reading data which is derived by a usual computer or adjusts the attitude of the seat automatically in accordance with the computer output, and hence the attitude of the seat is fixed in accordance with the physical features of the driver and the operating program, making it impossible or difficult to change the attitude from time to time and in accordance with the intent of a driver. It will be almost impossible to formulate an operating program which satisfies every driver.
In the latter arrangement, the seat attitude is automatically established by entering the identification code once the driver has previously established the seat attitude to his preference and data indicative of such attitude is stored into the microcomputer in association with his identification code. However, the storage of optimum data is essential in this arrangement, and an unexperienced driver or a driver who fails to realize his optimum attitude may produce an entry of unreasonable attitude, presenting difficulty in the establishment of optimum data.